Rugby union's European Cup gets under way this weekend with a raft of the sport's backline pin-ups set to light up a tournament that consistenly offers some enthralling entertainment.

There is no coasting in the group stages of the 24-team competition, with only the six pool winners and the two best finishers qualifying for the knock-out phase.

It is a breeding ground for top-quality rugby with no hiding place for a handful of poster-boys who in one breath are hailed for their tactical creativity, booming touch-finders and crunching tackles, and in the next find themselves in the crosshairs of a tireless paparazzi and dodging brickbats from gossip and sporting columnists.

All Black outside-half Dan Carter demanded a sabbatical in Europe to take part in the competition, spurning offers from the Tana Umaga-coached Toulon to join Cup-bound Perpignan.

With Perpignan not having won the French league title since 1955, expectations on Carter during his six-month contract will be sky high - several thousand people turned out just for a glimpse of the Kiwi in the Catalan city last month.

"The coach and the team both know that it's not one person who's going to win something. I am neither Maradona nor a rock star," claimed the 53-time capped All Black, whose on and off-field activities will come under round-the-clock scrutiny.

Carter said the attraction of playing at Perpignan had been the absence of a large number of compatriots and "the fact that Perpignan play in the European Cup, a competition that I have watched and admired, and always wanted to be a part of".

Battling Carter in the glamour stakes will be a future international rival at outside-half, Danny Cipriani of England.

The Wasps playmaker has found his way back onto the paddock after a remarkably quick recovery from a horrific ankle injury in May.

He has also found himself covered as much on the front pages of the tabloids and gossip columns as the sports pages after linking up with Kelly Brook, a former model-cum-TV presenter and actress.

Ever since his debut for England was delayed after he was spotted in a nightclub in the early hours of the morning before the game and his admission that he had been on a date with a model who was allegedly born a man, the now 20-year-old has become a darling of the paparazzi.

This week, Cipriani was left nursing cuts to his face after team-mate Josh Lewsey poleaxed him during training for their team Wasps.

"It is Heineken Cup week. There is always a fight in Heineken Cup week," said Wasps head coach Shaun Edwards said of the incident that came four days before the English champions open their Cup campaign against French side Castres.

Edwards added that Cipriani was treated the same at Wasps as everybody else despite his high media profile.

"If he is late for training he will be fined and if his training is not up to scratch he gets told off, as everyone else does," said Edwards.

Ospreys will likely have Wales star Gavin Henson to face Leicester on Sunday, and Treviso and Perpignan in other pool games.

At one time in his career, Henson's image mirrored that of Cipriani, making the headlines more for his relationship with classically-trained singer and TV presenter Charlotte Church - who once had a reputation for her binge drinking and partying - than his variable injury-hit form on the pitch.

But Church is expecting a second child by Henson, the pair are now established home-makers boasting a menagerie of animals, and the centre has returned from injury for Ospreys and is looking in good form.

Stade Francais players, while underachieving in the European Cup, can never be accused of shunning the spotlight, releasing a homoerotic team calendar every season and wearing pink jerseys.

One of the pin-ups is Juan Martin Hernandez, the outside-half who guided Argentina to third place in last year's World Cup.

He might not date a former Miss France like club colleague and Italy captain Sergio Parisse, but among the backs, no one comes close on a good day.

"The intensity here comes from within the group," Hernandez said of his Paris club. "There is no club like Stade and the pressure to win is always good pressure.

"That is exactly why we are here, because this is a big club with big expectations."

AFP

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